3 Techniques to Switch from Overthinking to Thinking Effectively & 4 Ways to Turn That Into Action
Today, I’m going to talk about the difference between overthinking and thinking effectively, what leads us to overthink things instead of thinking through them to get clear answers, and why we tend to overthink and lose focus.
I share three ways we can differentiate the two and the characteristics we should look out for so we don’t end up wasting our time overthinking. Additionally, I list down four ways we can pivot from being an overthinker to becoming an action-doer, a rational thinker who wouldn’t shy away from making mistakes and failing, and has the initiative to take risks and seize opportunities.
If you want to pre-order the book, 8 Rules of Love, go to https://8rulesoflove.com/
Key Takeaways:
- 00:00 Intro
- 02:03 The difference between thinking and overthinking
- 07:32 Difference #1: Time
- 12:04 Difference #2: Action
- 14:53 Difference #3: Structure
- 16:34 You’ll never feel ready
- 18:48 Expect failures and mistakes
- 20:01 Break down what you want to achieve to the smallest things
- 22:33 Surround yourself with people who take action
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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Speaker 1: You want to expect failure and to make mistakes and
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Speaker 1: not try and avoid them. If you're failing and making
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Speaker 1: then that's obviously not useful. But I want you to
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Speaker 1: expect failure. I want you to expect to make mistakes.
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Speaker 1: So now you're not surprised. Now you don't judge yourself.
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Speaker 1: Now you don't make yourself feel insecure or inferior because
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Speaker 1: of it. Hey, everyone, welcome back to our Purpose, the
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Speaker 1: number one health podcast in the world. Thanks to each
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Speaker 1: and every one of you that come back every week
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Speaker 1: to listen, learn and grow. Now, I know that if
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Speaker 1: you're here, you're here because you want to be happy, healthy,
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Speaker 1: and healing. That's what I want for myself, That's what
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Speaker 1: I want for all of you. It's what I want
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Speaker 1: for everyone in the world. Imagine if the world was happier, healthier,
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Speaker 1: and more healed, what a beautiful world we'd live in
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Speaker 1: would be to people, we'd be better parents, we'd be
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Speaker 1: better professionals, it would be a truly phenomenal place to live.
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Speaker 1: And on Purpose is dedicated to that mission. Introducing you
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Speaker 1: to incredible thinkers and minds, ideas, topics, takeaways, insights that
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Speaker 1: can help you transform your life. So if you're here,
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Speaker 1: take a moment to just acknowledge and express gratitude to
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Speaker 1: yourself for showing up for yourself. Now, today's episode is
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Speaker 1: something that was sparked by a conversation with one of
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Speaker 1: my dear friends, Humble the Poet. If you haven't read
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Speaker 1: his work or don't follow him, he's an incredible, incredible
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Speaker 1: thinker and I've really enjoyed my conversations with him since
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Speaker 1: we became friends around four years ago. And what we'll
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Speaker 1: often do is we'll just find questions that we find
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Speaker 1: fascinating and we'll think, we'll reflect, we'll try and come
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Speaker 1: by that conversation because the question he asked me and
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Speaker 1: some of the insights he shared with me, which I'll
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Speaker 1: some of the things he shared with me was so
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Speaker 1: fascinating he's going to be on the podcast soon too,
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Speaker 1: because here's a new book coming out, so we all
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Speaker 1: look forward to that. Now, when it comes to thinking
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Speaker 1: differences between thinking and overthinking because there's a difference whether
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Speaker 1: you're thinking about something for a month or two months
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Speaker 1: or two years. And I would say that this time
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Speaker 1: applies to the extent of the task, So it depends
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Speaker 1: And if I'm going to write a book, I may
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Speaker 1: be overthinking, because it's a book. It's words on a page,
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Speaker 1: it's set in stone, It's there as a thoughtful, curated,
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Speaker 1: researched piece of work that I can't wait to share
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Speaker 1: with you. Right, So the amount of thinking that it
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Speaker 1: And so some people may say, well, that sounds like
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Speaker 1: overthinking you spend two years on it, But it's only
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Speaker 1: overthinking if it's based on the task. Now, if I
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Speaker 1: spent two years thinking about one thirteen minute solo episode,
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Speaker 1: that can be considered overthinking. I may have thought about
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Speaker 1: this idea before, I may elected on it before. But
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Speaker 1: if I'm consistently thinking every day for two to three
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Speaker 1: years about a thirteen minute podcast episode that would be
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Speaker 1: considered overthinking. So when you're making a plan, one of
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Speaker 1: the things I'd recommend is that you first look at
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Speaker 1: more challenging the task, the more you give yourself a
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Speaker 1: certain time. And this is also the difference between thinking
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Speaker 1: and overthinking when it comes to time. Scheduled time makes
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Speaker 1: it thinking. Unscheduled time can make it overthinking. So if
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Speaker 1: of years thinking about it before I really you know,
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Speaker 1: and then those two years will give me these things
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Speaker 1: time is accounted for. And so if you're someone who
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Speaker 1: wants to do something big, something that's coming up, something
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Speaker 1: time is that going to take for you to think
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Speaker 1: and when you drive in, you could get discouraged. And
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Speaker 1: this is why it really comes to self awareness. There
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Speaker 1: are a lot of people who don't need to function
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Speaker 1: they'd figure it out and everything would work out for them.
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Speaker 1: And there are some people who need more thought, need
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Speaker 1: Have you ever had one bad moment spoil your entire
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Speaker 1: day or felt overwhelmed for no reason? What about stress
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Speaker 1: or anxious over that big moment or difficult conversation. You
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Speaker 1: should try meditation. And I know what you're thinking, Jay,
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Speaker 1: mindfulness practice is seven minutes a day with the Daily
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Speaker 1: j my daily guided meditations on the car mapp. You
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Speaker 1: don't need to close your eyes or find a special seat.
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Speaker 1: You can try it while you brush your teeth, do
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Speaker 1: the dishes, or walk your dog. My goal in seven
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Speaker 1: for an abundant life and simple steps for positive actions
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Speaker 1: to get you closer to the life of your dreams.
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Speaker 1: Here's what one of the listeners of the Daily Ja
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Speaker 1: had to say about their meditation. Wow, I just had
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Speaker 1: a super hard day at work and couldn't get my
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Speaker 1: bosses comments out of my head. Then I did the
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Speaker 1: Daily Ja, which related to my work issues, opened my
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Speaker 1: eyes at the end of the session and felt renewed again.
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Speaker 1: Previously today would have destroyed my whole weekend. Meditate with
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Speaker 1: The second difference between thinking and overthinking this was Humble's
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Speaker 1: answer is that he said it's about action. So he
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Speaker 1: was saying that if you are thinking, then it will
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Speaker 1: lead to action, and if you're overthinking, it will lead
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Speaker 1: to inaction. I thought this was a brilliant, brilliant answer
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Speaker 1: from him because I couldn't agree with him more when
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Speaker 1: we're thinking strategically and effectively, it leads to action, it
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Speaker 1: leads to change, it leads to transformation. But when we
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Speaker 1: just overthink, and this is why things like gossip, why
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Speaker 1: things like negativity, why things like comparison, complaining, and criticism
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Speaker 1: are often not healthy thinking and are overthinking because they
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Speaker 1: don't lead to positive action. So I think the question
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Speaker 1: you have to ask yourself as hey, well, if I
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Speaker 1: thought about this for a long time but it led
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Speaker 1: to action, then maybe I'm not an overthinker. I remember
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Speaker 1: before launching my YouTube channel, I spent two years thinking, researching, looking.
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Speaker 1: It took me two years before I even launched my
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Speaker 1: first video. Now, some could say that was overthinking, some
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Speaker 1: could say that was stalling. Some would even call that
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Speaker 1: a failure. But for me, I just saw that as
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Speaker 1: part of the process and guess what, It led to action,
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Speaker 1: and that action has led to all these incredible things
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Speaker 1: in my life. I'll give you another example. Before I
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Speaker 1: launched on Purpose this podcast, I thought about launching a
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Speaker 1: podcast for another two years. I found that some of
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Speaker 1: the biggest projects, biggest ideas that I've created in my life,
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Speaker 1: whether it's my books, my podcast, the content I'm creating.
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Speaker 1: I'll often spend a couple of years learning, growing, researching,
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Speaker 1: experimenting to truly understand right to really think about what
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Speaker 1: I want to do and why I want to do it.
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Speaker 1: And I find that to be extremely helpful because by
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Speaker 1: the time I get going, I'm already really clear on
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Speaker 1: what I'm trying to achieve and why I'm trying to
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Speaker 1: achieve it. Diving in sometimes I find actually takes me
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Speaker 1: three steps back because I don't give myself the time
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Speaker 1: to really know why it's important to me, why it's
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Speaker 1: relevant to me, and how I want it to flow.
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Speaker 1: So try this. Ask yourself, the next time you're thinking
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Speaker 1: about something, how quickly can I get to action? What
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Speaker 1: is the right action to follow this thought? All of
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Speaker 1: a sudden, you won't be overthinking. Overthinking means you keep
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Speaker 1: repeating the same thought, you keep repeating the same emotion,
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Speaker 1: the same feeling, and you never ask yourself, what do
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Speaker 1: I change? What can I do about this? How can
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Speaker 1: I shift from this position? And that simple question can
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Speaker 1: make all the difference. Now. The third difference between thinking
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Speaker 1: and overthinking, which came from my insight, is how structured
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Speaker 1: your process is. So when I'm thinking about something. I'll
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Speaker 1: have a structure, I'll break it down, I'll have steps,
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Speaker 1: I'll have points that I'm following. I'll have principles or
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Speaker 1: values that I use as a guide. But when you're overthinking,
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Speaker 1: you just keep repeating the same thought. You keep going
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Speaker 1: round around in circles. There's no structure, there's no process,
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Speaker 1: there's no system. So I want you to focus on
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Speaker 1: having a system for how you think. Every time you
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Speaker 1: have a thought, try and create an if this, then
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Speaker 1: that system with that idea. If I feel this, then
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Speaker 1: I do this. As soon as you start implementing that
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Speaker 1: and practicing that, that will now become the thought pattern
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Speaker 1: you carve for your mind. What we have to realize
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Speaker 1: is that every thought you're having is simply a thought,
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Speaker 1: a pathway in your mind that has been carved because
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Speaker 1: you've walked on it so many times. It's like if
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Speaker 1: you take the same route to work or to school
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Speaker 1: every day, that becomes your norm, and now anything that's
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Speaker 1: different to that feels random, it feels awkward, it may
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Speaker 1: feel uncomfortable. All you have to do is start taking
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Speaker 1: another route, and as you take that route every day,
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Speaker 1: if this, then that, If it rains, then I take
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Speaker 1: this route, now you start to have a different approach.
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Speaker 1: So the three differences between thinking and overthinking are time, action,
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Speaker 1: and structure. Now now that we know that, how do
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Speaker 1: we shift into taking action? The first thing you have
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Speaker 1: to remember is that you will never ever feel ready.
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Speaker 1: I don't know anyone who started something who ever felt ready.
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Speaker 1: If you asked me when I launched my YouTube channel,
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Speaker 1: did I feel ready? I would have said no. If
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Speaker 1: you asked me before we launched on purpose, if I
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Speaker 1: felt ready, I would have said no. If you asked
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Speaker 1: me that about a book, you asked me that about genius,
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Speaker 1: you asked me that about anything we've ever done. We
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Speaker 1: never felt ready. I never felt ready. If any thing,
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Speaker 1: it was always like, well, if we had six more months,
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Speaker 1: we could do this. If we had twelve more months,
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Speaker 1: we could do this. But I realized that the growth
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Speaker 1: I'd make in six to twelve months of not doing
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Speaker 1: something would never outweigh the growth that I would make
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Speaker 1: if I did launch it. When you launch something, when
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Speaker 1: you create something, when you think about something, you learn
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Speaker 1: so much more. Then when you wait till you're ready,
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Speaker 1: you wait till the perfect time, You wait till everything's
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Speaker 1: calmed down right, we always say like, I'm just gonna
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Speaker 1: wait till things settle down a bit. By then you
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Speaker 1: could lose inspiration, lose motivation, you could get busier, you
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Speaker 1: could get distracted, something else comes along. I find that
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Speaker 1: I've learned that my ability accelerates and expands every year
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Speaker 1: as I add more to my plate and create better
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Speaker 1: practices to deal with it. So you'll never feel ready
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Speaker 1: start anyway. Right, Please remember that if you're worrying about
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Speaker 1: starting something right now, I want you to know that,
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Speaker 1: don't wait till you're ready, don't wait till you know everything.
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Speaker 1: Don't wait because you'll never know everything. You'll never be ready.
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Speaker 1: That's the point. There isn't a point where you go, Okay,
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Speaker 1: I'm completely healed now, Okay, I'm completely here now. This
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Speaker 1: is a Western ideology of beginning and completion. Have you
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Speaker 1: ever completed anything? Like? What do you you know? Have
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Speaker 1: we completed our education? No? It was just an arbitrary
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Speaker 1: mark of saying you've now graduated. So recognizing that things
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Speaker 1: are more cyclical organic in nature, has a tree ever
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Speaker 1: finished growing? No? Right, it's not fully grown even as humans. Right,
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Speaker 1: there are parts of us that may stop growing, but
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Speaker 1: they don't stop changing, and so I just want you
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Speaker 1: to recognize that the second thing I'm going to say
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Speaker 1: can be counterintuitive, but you want to expect failure and
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Speaker 1: to make mistakes and not try and avoid them. One
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Speaker 1: of the reasons why we don't take action and where
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Speaker 1: we sitting overthinking is because we're trying to plot and
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Speaker 1: plan how to avoid every mistake and failure. I can
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Speaker 1: honestly tell you that with every venture I've started, I
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Speaker 1: have failed and made so many mistakes. Honestly, I've made
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Speaker 1: so many mistakes. I've failed it so many things, and
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Speaker 1: I've realized that that's just the path. When I think
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Speaker 1: about things like Steve Jobs getting kicked out of Apple,
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Speaker 1: can you imagine getting kicked out of your own company?
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Speaker 1: What kind of failure that is? What kind of challenge
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Speaker 1: that is? When you think about any of the people
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Speaker 1: you admire, they have all failed and made mistakes. That
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Speaker 1: is the path. If you're failing and making mistakes and
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Speaker 1: learning for them, you're on the path. If you're failing
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Speaker 1: and making mistakes and not learning from them, then that's
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Speaker 1: obviously not useful. But I want you to expect failure.
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Speaker 1: I want you to expect to make mistakes. So now
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Speaker 1: you're not surprised. Now you don't judge yourself. Now you
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Speaker 1: don't make yourself feel insecure or in fear area because
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Speaker 1: of it. Step number three, I want you to break
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Speaker 1: down what you want to achieve to the smallest thing.
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Speaker 1: I'll give an example. One of my friends wanted to
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Speaker 1: be a movie director and he said to me, I
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Speaker 1: really want to be a movie director. I want to
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Speaker 1: make Hollywood movies, right, but like big budget feature films.
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Speaker 1: So I was like, okay, that's that's a big goal, right,
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Speaker 1: and that could lead to a lot of overthinking because
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Speaker 1: it's hard, it's far away, it takes time. Let's break
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Speaker 1: it down. What do you need to do in order
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Speaker 1: to do that? And he was like, well, I would
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Speaker 1: need to be able to get that kind of a budget.
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Speaker 1: I was like, okay, well, what do you need to
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Speaker 1: do in order to get that budget? He said, well,
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Speaker 1: I would have to make movies that were impressive with
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Speaker 1: less of a budget. And I was like, well, what
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Speaker 1: do you need to do that? And he said, well,
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Speaker 1: I need to learn how to make movies. I need
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Speaker 1: to learn directing and scripting. I was like, okay, how
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Speaker 1: do you do that? He said well, I need to
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Speaker 1: get into film school or I need to make short movies.
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Speaker 1: And I said, well, which one do you want to try?
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Speaker 1: He said, well, maybe I'll start with short movies. So
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Speaker 1: he started making short movies and then he went to
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Speaker 1: film school because he realized there were certain skills he
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Speaker 1: didn't have. Now he's on the path. But notice how
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Speaker 1: if his goal was to make feature films, he would
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Speaker 1: overthink about that for maybe a few decades. But when
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Speaker 1: his first step would start making short movies or apply
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Speaker 1: for film school. That's something you could do today. And
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Speaker 1: I think people forget this, that the goal is the
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Speaker 1: same but the current move looks different. It's like when
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Speaker 1: you're climbing Mount Everest. That's the goal. The goal is
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Speaker 1: to get to the top of Mount Everest, but every
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Speaker 1: step doesn't take you to the top of Mount Everest.
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Speaker 1: And so we have to recognize that the step and
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Speaker 1: the goal are different, and we have to know the goal,
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Speaker 1: but focus on the step, and your step may lead
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Speaker 1: you in directions that you don't want. You might have
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Speaker 1: to learn skills you don't care about. You might have
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Speaker 1: to build qualities and character traits that you didn't even realize.
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Speaker 1: I've had to develop so many more leadership qualities than
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Speaker 1: I ever thought because of the team we lead. I've
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Speaker 1: had to learn so much more about investments and finances
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Speaker 1: than I ever thought I would need to because that's
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Speaker 1: getting me to my ultimate goal, which is impacting one
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Speaker 1: billion lives and making a difference in the world. So
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Speaker 1: the path, the steps look very different from the goal,
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Speaker 1: and we can't keep fixating saying no, but I just
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Speaker 1: want to feel this way. I just want to feel
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Speaker 1: like I'm having an impact. It's like, well, no, If
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Speaker 1: you really want to have an impact, you have to
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Speaker 1: be ready to learn this. And the fourth and final
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Speaker 1: step to start taking action is you have to be
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Speaker 1: surrounded by people who are taking action. You will not
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Speaker 1: move forward. If you're around people who are going backwards,
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Speaker 1: you will not move forward. If you're around people who
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Speaker 1: are happy being behind. If you're surrounded by go getters,
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Speaker 1: people who are making a difference, making a shift, making
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Speaker 1: an impact that will make the difference. Your circle will
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Speaker 1: define your impact. Your circle will define how fast, how
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Speaker 1: effectively you move forward. And so it makes you find
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Speaker 1: that tribe. I'm not telling you to change all your friends.
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Speaker 1: I'm saying have a few people around you that are
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Speaker 1: also on a mission, because those are the people that
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Speaker 1: will help you reach your vision that you so deeply
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Speaker 1: care about. I hope that this episode accelerates you in
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Speaker 1: a growth. I hope that it inspires you into motion,
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Speaker 1: and I hope that it helps you remember how to
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Speaker 1: switch from overthinking to thinking. Thank you for listening. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for choosing happiness, health, and healing only an on
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Speaker 1: purpose
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